


The Family We Leave Behind and the Family We Find

by vigilantesinthedark



Category: The Darkest Minds Series - Alexandra Bracken
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, I’m a sucker for found family and it shows, Missing Scene, Post In The Afterlight, Post-Canon, Vida is soft for her family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:33:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23928442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vigilantesinthedark/pseuds/vigilantesinthedark
Summary: Picking up right where In The Afterlight left off, the gang ends up at an abandoned playground, Vida makes a surprisingly vulnerable confession, and everyone loves their found family.. . .“All right, all right, show’s over. Group hugs don’t really fit my reputation.”“You shared something super personal,” Ruby spoke into her shoulder. “And being vulnerable like that earns hugs.”“Besides,” Liam chimed in, “we all know you’re a secret softie anyways.”“You might want to think about your position before you say things like that, Stewart. If I throw an elbow right now, you’rereallynot going to like where my arm ends up.”
Relationships: Ruby Daly/Liam Stewart, Vida Bautista/Charles Carrington "Chubs" Meriwether IV
Comments: 3
Kudos: 48





	The Family We Leave Behind and the Family We Find

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on the Vida short story that was at the end of my copy of Never Fade. If you haven’t read it, all you really need to know is that before being a part of the Children’s League, Vida’s powers got her and her sister into a bad situation where they had to be constantly on the run, staying somewhere different every night. One night, they go to sleep under the plastic dome at the top of a playground slide, and Vida wakes up alone because Nadia abandoned her. From there, the PSFs come after her and Cate rescues her to bring her into the League.
> 
> I couldn’t stand Vida when we first met her, and now I love her so much. Her soft moments really stood out to me, so here’s an entire fic about them, lol.

As Liam drove, Zu, Vida, Charlie, and Ruby took turns calling out _left, right,_ or _straight._

“Straight,” Zu said with perfect certainty. 

“Straight it is.” Liam rolled down his window, his hand floating through the breeze. “Vida, it’s a ways until the next intersection, but you’re up next.”

Vida took in the landscape around her, preparing to make her choice. Even though they were free (relatively speaking) of the last seven years, she couldn’t shake the training that had her analyzing every option. 

They were driving down a long, straight road through the middle of nowhere - though, in Vida’s opinion, that just about described all of West Virginia. Buildings popped up here and there, but nothing noteworthy. Looking around Charlie and through his window, she saw it, and knew where she had to bring them. 

“Right.”

“Make a right, _here_?” She couldn’t see his face in the driver’s seat, but she just knew he was lifting an eyebrow infuriatingly. Such a Stewart move. 

“I’m sorry, did I stutter? Right.”

Charlie looked over at her. She wasn’t sure if he was more puzzled by the fact that she hadn’t said something snarkier or that she had asked Liam to pull into the parking lot of a playground. 

After yelling at Ruby for scaring them all half to death at Thurmond, she had asked her why she wouldn’t suck up her pride and let Liam carry her out. Ruby had responded that it wasn’t about pride. She needed to walk out of there on her own two feet. The same way Liam had needed to walk away from his father’s house in West Virginia. 

Vida had been reminded of that when she saw the playground. It wasn’t the same one - they were a long way from California. It wasn’t even next to a school. But it had that same plastic dome where she had woken up on one of the worst days of her life. 

“Right it is.” Liam turned into the parking lot. 

. . .

In a normal world, it would have been a bit odd to see five teenagers hanging out at a playground, but altogether not too out of the ordinary. This wasn’t a normal world. And they were far from normal teenagers. 

“How long has it been,” Liam asked Charlie, “since you’ve been on a swingset?”

As the group reached the swings, he responded. “I don’t know. Probably not since I was-“

Liam cut him off. “The correct answer, my friend, is far too long.” And with that he dramatically threw himself onto the swings. 

Ruby and Zu laughed and joined him, kicking their legs to catch up to his flight. With a muttered “oh, what the hell,” Charlie joined in too. 

Vida just sat down on the last swing in the row. Thankfully, the others were too absorbed in their fun to notice her watching them. Realizing how much she’d never get sick of seeing smiles on their faces brought one to hers. 

Somewhere along the line, they had become her family, and she would protect them no matter the cost. People who didn’t know her could call her abrasive and selfish until they were as purple in the face as her hair, but she would do anything for her new family. 

Including have the stupidly vulnerable moment she knew was coming as soon as she decided to come to this park. 

“I’m going to run to the car and grab the bag of snacks,” she said as a parting. 

Vida just needed a moment to steel herself for this, and she took the time in the SUV to do so. 

Ruby couldn’t hide the sounds of her footsteps on a good day in the League, much less with the walking cast on, so Vida was able to hear her coming. 

“Hey.” Ruby sounded like she was walking on eggshells. Vida wasn’t sure if she wanted to thank her or hate her for it. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing’s going on, boo. Can’t a former child soldier enjoy some snacks on a playground?”

_That’s bullshit and we both know it_ , Ruby’s look read. 

Vida knew that Ruby knew her sister had abandoned her. At some point, Jude had told her. What she didn’t know, was how much of the story Ruby knew. Particularly that her sister had left her at a playground just like this. 

“Well, let me know if you need anything. I’m here for you, always.” Ruby bumped her shoulder against Vida’s before turning to walk away.”

“I do.”

Ruby turned back. 

“Need something, that is.” Vida could handle that small concession, especially since she was going to make a bigger one in a bit. 

Ruby took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “What is it, _girlfriend_?”

“You see that plastic dome above the slide? Do you think you can ask everyone to go up there for a minute?”

Ruby nodded. “Of course. I’ll ask them. And if for whatever reason they won’t, I have a way to make sure they will.” 

Vida fake gasped. “You’d use your mind games on them for me? This is why you’re my favorite freak.”

“I’m your favorite? Not ‘Charlie, dear’?” Her laugh was cut off by Vida flicking her on the nose. 

“Shut up.”

Ruby put up her hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, I’m going. We’ll meet you up there.”

. . .

If Vida hung back at the car fiddling with the snacks so she didn’t have to hear whether Ruby phrased going up there as her own idea or something that Vida asked for, well, no one would ever be able to prove it. 

When she did make it up there, she was greeted by Charlie patting the space between him and Ruby. That is, the space between him and where Ruby was half perched on Liam’s lap. Vida considered pointedly gagging at the two of them being so disgustingly cute, but the thought fled from her mind when Charlie draped his arm over her shoulders. 

Liam was the first to reach for the bag she put in the middle of their circle. He grabbed a granola bar and held it up as if making a toast. “To this ridiculous family we’ve found.”

Zu took another bar and mimicked him. “You all are the best siblings I could ask for.”

“Where would I be without all of you?” Charlie half asked, half sighed. 

“Probably somewhere with a much lower risk of constant,” Ruby held up her hands in air quotes, “stress induced cardiomyopathy.”

“Darlin’, please tell me that your abilities don’t include _Freaky Friday_ mind swapping with Chubs. Otherwise, I might end up with the stress induced cardiomyopathy.”

Everyone just stared at Liam. 

“Oh come on, you all don’t know _Freaky Friday_? The cinematic masterpiece with Lindsay Lohan?”

“Ou, no, we got it, it’s just that you’re such a massive dork.” Vida sighed, raising a hand her own granola bar toast. “Still, I’ll take this family, dorky and all, that actually wants me over the one that left me behind.”

“Hear, hear.” Ruby gave her an encouraging smile, as if she knew where Vida was going with this. Maybe she did. 

“That’s actually why I wanted to turn into this playground. Before the Children’s League, my sister and I bounced around from place to place a lot. We had a place in an abandoned apartment complex, but some shit went down involving the ‘landlord,’” she scoffed in disgust at the memory of Frisk, “my sister, and my abilities. So we had to hit the road. 

“One night - that at the time, seemed like all of the others - we slept on a playground like this. Well, I slept. Because when I woke up, Nadia was gone. Later, the PSFs found me, Cate saved me, and everything with the League happened, but that’s not the point. 

“I just.” _Breathe, Vida, breathe,_ she told herself. “One of the worst chapters of my life started in a place just like this. So when I saw this from the road, I just had to be with all of you here. It only seems right that this next, good chapter of my life starts on a shitty playground, too.”

No one said anything. Not with words at least. But Charlie’s arm tightened around her. Zu launched herself towards Vida, clinging her arms around her neck. Ruby scooted in to cover Vida’s other side. Liam, free from Ruby sitting atop him, came around to hug Vida from behind. They didn’t have to say anything. Being held by all of them, Vida knew she was safe. Knew she was loved. Knew she was happy. 

That happiness didn’t stop a signature snarky comment from escaping her lips, though. “All right, all right, show’s over. Group hugs don’t really fit my reputation.”

“You shared something super personal,” Ruby spoke into her shoulder. “And being vulnerable like that earns hugs.”

“Besides,” Liam chimed in, “we all know you’re a secret softie anyways.”

“You might want to think about your position before you say things like that, Stewart. If I throw an elbow right now, you’re _really_ not going to like where my arm ends up.”

In the midst of the laughter following Liam trying to subtly scoot back from her, Charlie whispered a soft “That’s my girl.”

Vida knew that they would have to separate to drive back to the conference center soon. She also knew that it was likely the world would get worse in a million new ways before it got better. But sitting in that ridiculous group hug, she knew that as long as these people were with her, she could face anything.


End file.
